Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rutgers!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: lear@net.bio.net (Eliot Lear) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Message-ID: Date: 16 Oct 89 20:42:53 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 20 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 454, message 5 of 9 I'd like to commend Steve for once again demonstrating that one of the hottest issues of the early seventies is still with us today - the individual's ``right'' to privacy. I don't propose to argue those rights, now. How can Caller ID be offered so that it does not intrude on the individual's right to privacy? When in doubt, allow configurability. Avoid making policy decisions in implementation, but allow for them in the future. It would be nice if phone companies would give the individual the option, up to any particular phone call, whether caller id should be given, as well as what the default should be. The win, here, is that individuals will be able to decide which is more important, and when. The lose, of course, is that if they pick the wrong default and forget about it, Van Nuys would be just another tragedy; or in Steve's example, some cop would end up a little richer at the expense of another's well being. Eliot Lear [lear@net.bio.net]